Gentle Breezes, Sudden Gusts & Writing Drafts
Many topics, random thoughts
Since the killing of George Floyd on May 25, the world witnessed what I hope will be an historical watershed. The days from Floyd’s death though his burial on June 9 in Houston beside the mother to whom he called out as he took his last breath, appear in this post.
While I haven’t said much here, I’m taking stock, listening, talking to neighbors, reflecting. Continue reading “VI George Floyd”
Thanks to Dan Davis who blogs at Vintage Portland, we know how glorious public toilet facilities used to be. And this is the women’s room at a time when most public restrooms served only men.
via Vintage Portland
Dan Davis has a couple of great posts this week on the historic underground comfort station near Pioneer Courthouse. Dan does his homework, turning over stones and single handedly making Portland more fascinating than anyone expected.
I “like”d this post and now I find I may be able to reblog it. Lazy blogger’s road to happiness! Let’s see if it works.
via Vintage Portland
Swiss designer Stephen Bischof has field tested his innovative prototype on the busy streets of South London, where video monitoring confirmed its acceptance by users. The press, the design community, and experts in ecological sanitation have all taken note.
Considering the challenge of dealing with public urination in US cities, the Recycling Bin Urinal merits serious consideration. First, it presents an opportunity to decriminalize public urination when people simply cannot find an available toilet. Granted, a recycling bin meets neither the standards of dignity nor the privacy criteria expected of a public toilet. But in areas of cities where homeless people gather at night for their safety, these emergency urinals are likely to be welcomed.
Even when public toilets are available within a reasonable distance, homeless men and women are understandably reluctant to go to them if it means packing up their belongings and or leaving them behind. The bins can be discretely rolled to a nearby alcove at night. Women can use the facility to dump urine collected in a drugstore urinal or directly with the assistance of any of a number of inexpensive cardboard or plastic funnels available on the market.
Environment activists and advocates for the rights of homeless people might do well to think out of the box and embrace this idea. Decriminalize urination, collect trash and recycle urine using the same small footprint receptacle? Maybe this is a place to start.
Public Hygiene Lets Us Stay Human, or PHLUSH, has been invited to make two presentations to the prestigious World Toilet Summit and Expo in Singapore in December 2009.
Old Town Chinatownʼs public restroom advocates are busy preparing 20-minute presentations entitled Public Restroom Design for 21st Century US Cities: The PHLUSH Principles and Innovations in Sustainable Design: Case studies from Portland, Oregon.
The invitation came as surprise to PHLUSH, a committee of the Old Town Chinatown Neighborhood Association whose efforts have focussed on downtown Portland. World Toilet Summit organizers had noticed the groupʼs work in urban restroom design on their website http://www.phlush.org . In order to participate, PHLUSH must now raise funds to permit two of its Co-Founders to travel to Singapore.
Tax-deductible donations are being received by Neighbors West-Northwest, a coalition of twelve Portland Neighborhood Associations that serves as fiscal sponsor for PHLUSH. Neighbors West-Northwest is a 501 (c) 3 non-profit organization accepting donations on line (add special instruction “PHLUSH” before hitting send ) and by check (to Neighbors West-Northwest, 2257 NW Raleigh St., Portland, OR 97210; put PHLUSH in memo line).
For the past four years, PHLUSH has worked to increase public restroom availability through well-focused citizen advocacy and practical, informed collaboration with local officials. The only organization of its kind in the United States, PHLUSH now has the opportunity to promote Portland and its acclaimed urban design and livability. Furthermore, participants will become familiar with the latest sustainable sanitation technologies and gain access to technical experts on issues ranging from composting toilets to proposed amendments to plumbing codes.
Please help PHLUSH take advantage of this extraordinary opportunity to exchange expertise with participants at the 2009 World Toilet Summit.
Kathryn Anthony of the American Restroom Association hit the front page of the New York Times recently talking about potty parity. With spendy new ball parks opening in New York and St. Louis, the Professor of Architecture at the University of Illinois has been explaining how design can equalize wait times for men and women. “Until relatively recently, most architects, contractors, engineers, building-code officials and clients were not concerned about this issue,” Anthony is quoted as saying. “These were very male-dominated professions, and still are. They rarely contacted women about their restroom needs.”
Next Anthony, was on NPR talking about potty parity. In the light hearted but dead serious interview, the irrepressible Anthony shines light on female physiology, girl clothing, and the relaxed conviviality that characterizes women’s restrooms. “Until men have menstrual periods, until men get pregnant, or until men breast-feed or have babies,” says Anthony. “We’ll always have a need for potty parity.”
The USA Today has also been following Anthony for insights into way those long lines form at women’s restrooms and what to do about it.
Jack Sim, the spirited, indefatigable founder of the World Toilet Organization (toilet crusaders tend to be fun people) then chimed in. He’d seen an ingenious design at Japan Saitama Arena stadium. It’s essentially an elongated room (works well in a stadium) containing a long row of toilet stalls with a floor-to-ceiling, wall-to-wall movable partition in the middle. Doors for men and women lead into the hand washing areas at either end. The men’s end has a set of urinals between sinks and toilets. Depending on the likely gender balance of an audience for any given event, the partition is moved to ensure potty parity. Brilliant!
Meanwhile, PHLUSH, Portland’s public restroom advocates were dealing with reports of ongoing public urinationwithin sight of the the shining new Portland Loo. The issue didn’t provoke a lot of comments but one did come in from bad boy rapper Adil Omar. You may have caught Lisa Mullin’s interview on PRI’s The World with the teenage Pakistani sensation. Says Adil, “It’s natural, essential and a part of every boy’s growing up.” I guess boys will be boys. No potty parity here. In fact, no potty.
The process of developing the LEED-Neighborhood Development rating system is now coming to a close with a final call for comments by June 14, 2009.
This joint venture of the Congress for the New Urbanism, the US Green Building Council, and the Natural Resources Defense Council is a powerful and practical tool for environmental sustainability. Where LEED looks at buildings, LEED-ND considers how they are integrated into compact, mixed-use neighborhoods and walkable, transit-oriented communities.
Buildings generate more than a third of greenhouse gases and other environmental impacts. However, people moving themselves and goods among buildings are responsible for another third. The latest draft of LEED-ND is a comprehensive set of guidelines, with a rating system rating system the offers points for alternatives to sprawl and development that activates open spaces and reduces the need to drive. But has LEED-ND looked at what else needs to be done to get people out of their cars?
Portland public restroom advocacy organization PHLUSH demonstrates how public restrooms are a vital part of mixed-use neighborhoods. People are comfortable strolling in downtown when there are public facilities.
Fundamental to historical urban development was recognition of the need of all human beings to urinate and defecate. In fact, a hallmark of a great city was its ability to deal with this reality.
Could it be that old-fashioned reluctance to consider these basic, albeit unappealing, circumstances of human existence have blinded some of the world’s most talented, architects, planners and environmentalists?
Or is it me who is missing something?
Gentle Breezes, Sudden Gusts & Writing Drafts 
